Trump was furious the New York Times reported that the Qatari-gifted Air Force One lacked missile defenses. Within 48 hours, FBI Director Kash Patel — who had been working out of the White House — served subpoenas on reporters demanding testimony in five days. Ben Rhodes calls it a new Rubicon and 'Putin-esque behavior.'
Where this was said
At 32:01 · chapter starts 26:20
The decision to leave the Qatari-gifted Boeing 747 behind was publicly attributed by Trump to letting troops tour it, but the New York Times reported the real reason: the new plane lacks missile defense countermeasures. Trump was reportedly furious at the story. What followed was extraordinary: FBI Director Kash Patel canceled a personal trip to sit in the White House for eight hours, then served subpoenas on Times journalists with five days to comply. The Pentagon and DOJ simultaneously announced a joint task force to prosecute leakers. Ben draws a sharp distinction between normal leak investigations — years-long, cast-wide nets focused on government employees, run by independent US attorneys — and this: the president directly ordering his FBI chief to immediately target journalists from the White House. He calls it 'a total new Rubicon' and 'fucking Putin-esque behavior.' The key detail that crystalizes the story: Kash Patel canceled his girlfriend's country concert to spend eight hours at the White House running this political operation.
Canada paid $4.7 billion for the Gordie Howe Bridge entirely on its own. Then Matthew Moroun, heir to the competing Ambassador Bridge, donated $1M to a Trump super PAC, met Commerce Secretary Lutnick, and hours later Trump posted a rant blocking the bridge's opening — demanding US ownership of 'at least one half.' The corruption is textbook.
Ten years ago, 90% of tech media coverage was relentlessly negative and Kalanick felt he couldn't speak freely. Today, the rise of independent podcasters and Elon Musk buying Twitter has fundamentally changed the game — and it's why he's finally willing to talk.
Kay Classman, 28, was arrested for repeatedly posing as a 16-year-old and enrolling in Bronx high schools across multiple districts. She wasn't a predator — just someone so sad and lonely she wanted her lost childhood back. That's somehow sadder.
Disney, Meta, and Paramount have collectively paid Trump roughly $60 million to settle what Galloway calls nuisance lawsuits — all routed to his presidential library. Newsrooms are folding. The White House is handpicking press pool participants. This is what the end of a free press looks like.
One cheap fake documentary made by a teenager in his mother's basement convinced 16% of Americans that 9/11 was an inside job. Social media didn't invent conspiracy — it just gave it a rocket engine.
A progressive organization with a stated mission to destroy Turning Point USA received millions from ActBlue and is now publicly pushing the narrative that TPUSA insiders and Israel murdered Charlie Kirk. Andrew Wilson traced the network of accounts all amplifying the same conspiracy in perfect unison.
The microphone-bomb theory fails on every physical front: no smoke, no ignition, mic on the wrong side of the wound. And the .30-06 rifle round used is extensively documented by the US Army — it does not always produce a through-and-through wound. Wilson argues this is a well-studied projectile with well-understood behavior.
Andrew Wilson publicly offered Candace Owens $300,000 to debate her theory that Israel and TPUSA murdered Charlie Kirk. She refused. He argues that flat-earthers will debate anyone, but Kirk conspiracy theorists won't defend their claims under scrutiny.
Erika Kirk became the CEO of TPUSA while grieving her husband's murder in public, and now faces tens of thousands accusing her of conspiring to kill him. Andrew Wilson calls it mind-boggling psychological torture. The sparklers at the memorial weren't suspicious — they were a grieving widow doing her best in an impossible situation.
Joe Rogan and Andrew Wilson watch a bystander video of the Corey Ruiz police shooting in Madison, Wisconsin live on air. The video is so blurry they initially think a female officer fired the fatal shots. They later learn a male officer did, after Ruiz allegedly pulled a knife and stabbed officers. Their conclusion: you cannot have a hot take on a story you don't understand yet.
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